To connect with moms, the primary economic buyers for the back-to-school season, Fruit of the Loom created a clever brand film and contest that put their kids’ hilarious and unexpected quotes on pillows.

StrategyFruit of the Loom and its agency partner CP+B began planning for the campaign in June 2018.

"This time of year, moms are doing the bulk of back-to-school shopping, which is a lot of times when underwear gets bought," explained KT Thayer, creative director at CP+B. "With this campaign, we wanted to create something engaging that would stimulate [social] participation."

Fruit of the Loom decided to create a brand film that centered around a collection of decorative, hand-stitched pillows that featured funny quotes from kids.

TacticsThroughout the month of June, the campaign team began gathering a list of quotes through social listening that had a combination of hilarity and family friendliness to be used on the pillows.

The designs were then sent to a cross-stitcher, who worked for about three weeks to hand cross-stitch each pillow. On July 18, the team photographed each pillow in different home environments and edited the footage together over the following week.The brand film went live on the company’s Facebook and Instagram accounts on August 9. The video included ridiculous kid quotes, such as: "Mommy, you were my best friend, until I actually got friends," and, "You have a mustache, so I’m going to bed early tonight."

The film’s call-to-action for the contest was for parents to comment on the video with their own kid’s funny quote for a chance to win their own custom-stitched pillow. The contest ran through August 29.

"From our perspective, the key insight was understanding that modern moms don't brag about their kids like they used to," said Thayer. "Today, it's all about funny, cute, relatable moments of stuff that kids say or do that other parents can relate to."

In addition to the social contest, the campaign team ran a custom landing page on Fruit.com that included a gallery of the pillows, the video, and the contest rules.

ResultsDespite limited paid promotion behind it, the Pillows for Posterity video received more than 780,000 views on Facebook alone. A 10-second version of the video, which ran on Instagram, received more than 230,000 views.

The campaign contest received upwards of 700 entries on social. In addition, the campaign netted nearly 800 social engagements across both featured platforms, with the brand measuring an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the content.